A viral video shows a long line of people in front of a Havana bank on La Rampa, in El Vedado (Plaza de la Revolución municipality), waiting to withdraw cash in what has become a daily scene of the Cuban banking crisis.
The brief audiovisual was shared on Teresa Pérez Salazar's Facebook profile. The line is at the ATMs of Branch 264 of Banco Metropolitano, located at Calle 23 between P and Malecón.
In the message accompanying the video, the user reports that the withdrawal limit at the ATMs of that bank is 5,000 Cuban pesos per transaction, an amount that "barely covers the cost of a packet of chicken and a bottle of oil."
The Cuban directly addresses Miguel Díaz-Canel: «How long will this go on? Leave, as no one can stand you. It's a nightmare restricting the working people while you and yours live as you please.»
The lines at the banks are seen all over the country
In April 2026, the agency EFE documented lines of between four and six hours at Havana banks, primarily made up of retirees trying to collect pensions of just 4,000 pesos.
The deterioration has accelerated in recent months. In June, the Banco Metropolitano reduced the maximum withdrawal limit from 5,000 to 3,000 Cuban pesos per transaction in Havana, while in provinces like Sancti Spíritus the limits reached as low as 500 pesos.
On July 18, a journalist was depicted enduring eight hours sitting on a curb to withdraw money from a bank in the capital, an image that encapsulated the ordeal faced daily by more than 1.7 million retired Cubans.
The situation worsens because more than 50% of the ATMs in Havana were out of service. The Metropolitan Bank also suspended digital appointment reservations — MiTurno and Ticket — due to power outages, which intensified the chaos in the lines.
In light of the collapse, the Central Bank of Cuba issued Resolution 74/2026, effective from July 20, which suspended the limit of 5,000 pesos for cash transactions between economic actors.
Analysts and media interpreted the measure as an implicit acknowledgment of the failure of the mandatory banking policy imposed in August 2023, which attempted to enforce the use of digital payments without addressing the structural issues: shortage of cash, frequent power outages, and low connectivity.
The cash shortage has also fueled a parallel market for physical bills where intermediaries charge commission fees ranging from 30% to 45%: to withdraw 2,000 pesos, a person must transfer 2,800, paying an 800 peso commission.
The video has garnered over 303,000 views on Facebook and concludes with the slogan "Homeland and Life. Freedom for Cuba!"
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